This is going to dominate the news for the next few days and a good politician will be able to explo

System

This is going to dominate the news for the next few days and a good politician will be able to exploit it ruthlessly – politicalbetting.com

MAIL SPORT: Football At War #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/3dN9OUQ81m

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FrancisUrquhart

Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.

ping

ping said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

NEW THREAD

It doesn’t appear on vanilla ?

Oh yes it does!

ping

FrancisUrquhart said:

Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.

The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.

Big_G_NorthWales

ping said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.

The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.

Indeed, Labour have now been drawn into it

turbotubbs

ping said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.

The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.

Without wanting to be accused of what aboutery there seems to be a lot of it about. Liverpool story has not gone away. Lord falconer. Wales. We should expect better from all of them.

MrEd

If the Government wants to put the boot in and stop this, there are plenty of ways they could do this, competition law for starters.

FrancisUrquhart

turbotubbs said:

ping said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.

The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.

Without wanting to be accused of what aboutery there seems to be a lot of it about. Liverpool story has not gone away. Lord falconer. Wales. We should expect better from all of them.

I had to laugh at the interview Joe Anderson gave on CH4 News the other day...lets just say it seemed a very unwise move.

He claims he was totally unware that his own son had the gig from the council to demolish an overpass. Not a clue, son never said a word to him about the job, not a sausage.

As for why would he take bribes....all he could say was he couldn't think of a reason why he would....the same reason everybody who takes one, takes ones? The folding, the reddies, the wonga?

Leon

India: bodies being burned, unregistered, on the pavement


Ameet Pinto
@watermicrobe
Cremations are happening on the sidewalk in a city that has only reported only two #covid19 deaths in April. When you see those numbers from Flag of India, know that it is much much worse than those numbers show.

https://twitter.com/watermicrobe/status/1383856909464203270?s=20

TOPPING

ping said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.

The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.

If every story is going to be punctuated by stories of Tory sleaze it will be a very torrid run up to the GE for the Cons.

rcs1000

Gallowgate said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

tlg86 said:

Cookie said:

moonshine said:

TOPPING said:

MaxPB said:

I haven't seen something as unpopular as this, ever. This must have been what the poll tax was like, universally unpopular.

Perhaps the clubs, having spent the past year without them, have realised that fans are or need not be the biggest revenue contributors.

Stick the it on ppv or team up with a steaming service, fund it via an oil- rich searcher of good PR and Bob's your uncle.

You don't need a superleague to ditch Sky and the multitude of network middlemen around the world. You have an EPL app (or Champions League app) that carries every game wherever you are in the world. Just the same as for the American sports. It would be trivial to earn more money than they do now and it would send Sky bust as well which would be amusing.

Would that send sky bust? Are they basically dead without football? Is this the whole of Sky, or just Sky sports?

Sky have put a lot of effort into diversifying their portfolio. Obviously the Premier League is an important part of their offering, but they've tried hard to attract non-sports subscribers in recent years.

The problem they have is that they aren't big producers of their own content and what they have made is normally shit e.g. Gangs of London. Now they have / had a deal with HBO to show stuff on Sky Atlantic, and initially HBO were really funny about the idea of streaming apps, but they now have HBO Max.

Chernobyl was produced by SKY

Yes, but why haven't they greenlit another season?

dixiedean

Boris is indeed lucky. Corbyn understands football.
Starmer?

rcs1000

turbotubbs said:

ping said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.

The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.

Without wanting to be accused of what aboutery there seems to be a lot of it about. Liverpool story has not gone away. Lord falconer. Wales. We should expect better from all of them.

Lord Falconer of the hundred thousand pound office redecoration story? Why would we expect better from him?

FrancisUrquhart

dixiedean said:

Boris is indeed lucky. Corbyn understands football.
Starmer?

Does Corbyn understand football? His policy of psuedo nationalisation idea, I don't think went down very well.

It was a policy a bit like the Commie Cable Company, free internet everybody, everybody loves the internet, so they are going dig this. But, yeah but it will be slower and I can't choose to package it with my Sky etc, no you can't...hmmmm I don't think I like this idea....

Fan owned clubs, ok, lets think, that means no billionaire football owners, means fewer mega stars, which means far less likely to compete in the Champions league e.g. no billionaire owner, no Leicester dream.

Yes I know Germany fan owned, but they are basically a one club league, where occasionally a few others do compete, but they then have to flog their good players after they had a season or two to balance the books e.g. Dortmund are likely to sell Haaland this summer after just one season.

Big_G_NorthWales

dixiedean said:

Boris is indeed lucky. Corbyn understands football.
Starmer?

And of course red wall seats really care about their football

As has been said 'manna from heaven' for Boris

dixiedean

Leon said:

India: bodies being burned, unregistered, on the pavement


Ameet Pinto
@watermicrobe
Cremations are happening on the sidewalk in a city that has only reported only two #covid19 deaths in April. When you see those numbers from Flag of India, know that it is much much worse than those numbers show.

https://twitter.com/watermicrobe/status/1383856909464203270?s=20

Don't cremations routinely happen on sidewalks in India?
I heard the most almighty crash in my guest house in Bikaner. A lorry hit a camel drawn transport.
A makeshift ghat was set up before nightfall on the intersection. Summat to see.

Andy_JS

"Michigan expands mask requirement to children ages 2 to 4, extends gathering limits

As the surge of coronavirus cases continues in Michigan, a younger demographic has been part of the increase. The expansion to children age 2 and up will take effect April 26."

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/04/michigan-expands-mask-requirement-to-children-ages-2-to-4-extends-gathering-limits.html

HYUFD

dixiedean said:

Leon said:

India: bodies being burned, unregistered, on the pavement


Ameet Pinto
@watermicrobe
Cremations are happening on the sidewalk in a city that has only reported only two #covid19 deaths in April. When you see those numbers from Flag of India, know that it is much much worse than those numbers show.

https://twitter.com/watermicrobe/status/1383856909464203270?s=20

Don't cremations routinely happen on sidewalks in India?
I heard the most almighty crash in my guest house in Bikaner. A lorry hit a camel drawn transport.
A makeshift ghat was set up before nightfall on the intersection. Summat to see.

Indeed, cases have clearly risen in India as has the death rate but overall its relatively young population still means it has only had a death rate per million of 129 from Covid compared to a global average Covid death rate per million of 389

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Leon

dixiedean said:

Leon said:

India: bodies being burned, unregistered, on the pavement


Ameet Pinto
@watermicrobe
Cremations are happening on the sidewalk in a city that has only reported only two #covid19 deaths in April. When you see those numbers from Flag of India, know that it is much much worse than those numbers show.

https://twitter.com/watermicrobe/status/1383856909464203270?s=20

Don't cremations routinely happen on sidewalks in India?
I heard the most almighty crash in my guest house in Bikaner. A lorry hit a camel drawn transport.
A makeshift ghat was set up before nightfall on the intersection. Summat to see.

I've been to Varanasi and Calcutta and seen the cremations! Quite something.

However if you check under that tweet the guy insists this is highly unusual, these are just families burning bodies desperately

dixiedean

FrancisUrquhart said:

dixiedean said:

Boris is indeed lucky. Corbyn understands football.
Starmer?

Does Corbyn understand football? His policy of psuedo nationalisation idea, I don't think went down very well.

It was a policy a bit like the Commie Cable Company, free internet everybody, everybody loves the internet, so they are going dig this. But, yeah but it will be slower and I can't choose to package it with my Sky etc, no you can't...hmmmm I don't think I like this idea....

Fan owned clubs, ok, lets think, that means no billionaire football owners, means fewer mega stars, which means far less likely to compete in the Champions league.

Yes I know Germany fan owned, but they are basically a one club league, plus others that have to flog their good players after they had a season or two to balance the books.

I reckon he'd not be embarrassed speaking on Sky Sports for 10 minutes. Either on this topic or football in general.
Unlike Boris or SKS...
As for the German system. Well it does that.
It also has frighteningly affordable season tickets and generally produces a decent national side. So it is a question of what you want.

Time_to_Leave

rcs1000 said:

Gallowgate said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

tlg86 said:

Cookie said:

moonshine said:

TOPPING said:

MaxPB said:

I haven't seen something as unpopular as this, ever. This must have been what the poll tax was like, universally unpopular.

Perhaps the clubs, having spent the past year without them, have realised that fans are or need not be the biggest revenue contributors.

Stick the it on ppv or team up with a steaming service, fund it via an oil- rich searcher of good PR and Bob's your uncle.

You don't need a superleague to ditch Sky and the multitude of network middlemen around the world. You have an EPL app (or Champions League app) that carries every game wherever you are in the world. Just the same as for the American sports. It would be trivial to earn more money than they do now and it would send Sky bust as well which would be amusing.

Would that send sky bust? Are they basically dead without football? Is this the whole of Sky, or just Sky sports?

Sky have put a lot of effort into diversifying their portfolio. Obviously the Premier League is an important part of their offering, but they've tried hard to attract non-sports subscribers in recent years.

The problem they have is that they aren't big producers of their own content and what they have made is normally shit e.g. Gangs of London. Now they have / had a deal with HBO to show stuff on Sky Atlantic, and initially HBO were really funny about the idea of streaming apps, but they now have HBO Max.

Chernobyl was produced by SKY

Yes, but why haven't they greenlit another season?

“Fukushima”?

another_richard

Re lobbying.

The latest Sunday Times revelations put Cameron in an even worse light.

And I don't think anyone will be surprised to read that Blair was connected with Greensill.

Anabobazina

I completely missed the Lord Falconer story.

Dare I ask whether he remains in post?

dixiedean

Leon said:

dixiedean said:

Leon said:

India: bodies being burned, unregistered, on the pavement


Ameet Pinto
@watermicrobe
Cremations are happening on the sidewalk in a city that has only reported only two #covid19 deaths in April. When you see those numbers from Flag of India, know that it is much much worse than those numbers show.

https://twitter.com/watermicrobe/status/1383856909464203270?s=20

Don't cremations routinely happen on sidewalks in India?
I heard the most almighty crash in my guest house in Bikaner. A lorry hit a camel drawn transport.
A makeshift ghat was set up before nightfall on the intersection. Summat to see.

I've been to Varanasi and Calcutta and seen the cremations! Quite something.

However if you check under that tweet the guy insists this is highly unusual, these are just families burning bodies desperately

Must say I never came across such a public thing in a major city.

FrancisUrquhart

dixiedean said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

dixiedean said:

Boris is indeed lucky. Corbyn understands football.
Starmer?

Does Corbyn understand football? His policy of psuedo nationalisation idea, I don't think went down very well.

It was a policy a bit like the Commie Cable Company, free internet everybody, everybody loves the internet, so they are going dig this. But, yeah but it will be slower and I can't choose to package it with my Sky etc, no you can't...hmmmm I don't think I like this idea....

Fan owned clubs, ok, lets think, that means no billionaire football owners, means fewer mega stars, which means far less likely to compete in the Champions league.

Yes I know Germany fan owned, but they are basically a one club league, plus others that have to flog their good players after they had a season or two to balance the books.

I reckon he'd not be embarrassed speaking on Sky Sports for 10 minutes. Either on this topic or football in general.
Unlike Boris or SKS...
As for the German system. Well it does that.
It also has frighteningly affordable season tickets and generally produces a decent national side. So it is a question of what you want.

The German model has its positives, but there is a reason the EPL is THE league everybody around the world watches. It is a commercial success like no other league.

It isn't the best technical football, but most seasons every team is competitive and there is real unpredictability. The product is fantastic and is built on all these clubs being able to go out and buy the extremely good talent and hold on to it e.g. recently we have had WBA beat highly placed teams, Newcastle beat West Ham yesterday, etc.

Masses of people in every country in the world aren't getting up at all hours of the weekend to watch Serie A, Bundesliga, etc, they are to watch EPL.

LostPassword

Time_to_Leave said:

rcs1000 said:

Gallowgate said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

tlg86 said:

Cookie said:

moonshine said:

TOPPING said:

MaxPB said:

I haven't seen something as unpopular as this, ever. This must have been what the poll tax was like, universally unpopular.

Perhaps the clubs, having spent the past year without them, have realised that fans are or need not be the biggest revenue contributors.

Stick the it on ppv or team up with a steaming service, fund it via an oil- rich searcher of good PR and Bob's your uncle.

You don't need a superleague to ditch Sky and the multitude of network middlemen around the world. You have an EPL app (or Champions League app) that carries every game wherever you are in the world. Just the same as for the American sports. It would be trivial to earn more money than they do now and it would send Sky bust as well which would be amusing.

Would that send sky bust? Are they basically dead without football? Is this the whole of Sky, or just Sky sports?

Sky have put a lot of effort into diversifying their portfolio. Obviously the Premier League is an important part of their offering, but they've tried hard to attract non-sports subscribers in recent years.

The problem they have is that they aren't big producers of their own content and what they have made is normally shit e.g. Gangs of London. Now they have / had a deal with HBO to show stuff on Sky Atlantic, and initially HBO were really funny about the idea of streaming apps, but they now have HBO Max.

Chernobyl was produced by SKY

Yes, but why haven't they greenlit another season?

“Fukushima”?

Origin story: "Windscale".

Gallowgate

Ed Aarons
@ed_aarons
Told there will be a statement on Super League in 10 minutes...

https://twitter.com/ed_aarons/status/1383904456463421448

Leon

FrancisUrquhart said:

dixiedean said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

dixiedean said:

Boris is indeed lucky. Corbyn understands football.
Starmer?

Does Corbyn understand football? His policy of psuedo nationalisation idea, I don't think went down very well.

It was a policy a bit like the Commie Cable Company, free internet everybody, everybody loves the internet, so they are going dig this. But, yeah but it will be slower and I can't choose to package it with my Sky etc, no you can't...hmmmm I don't think I like this idea....

Fan owned clubs, ok, lets think, that means no billionaire football owners, means fewer mega stars, which means far less likely to compete in the Champions league.

Yes I know Germany fan owned, but they are basically a one club league, plus others that have to flog their good players after they had a season or two to balance the books.

I reckon he'd not be embarrassed speaking on Sky Sports for 10 minutes. Either on this topic or football in general.
Unlike Boris or SKS...
As for the German system. Well it does that.
It also has frighteningly affordable season tickets and generally produces a decent national side. So it is a question of what you want.

The German model has its positives, but there is a reason the EPL is THE league everybody around the world watches. It is a commercial success like no other league.

It isn't the best technical football, but most seasons every team is competitive and there is real unpredictability. The product is fantastic and is built on all these clubs being able to go out and buy the extremely good talent and hold on to it.

Plus the football is fast and energetic, all the clubs have great stories, and the fans are eager and loud

It's an excellent product. Which generates big money for UK PLC and lots of soft power for the nation. Another reason why this superleague is calamitously misguided. They would destroy all that for short term money and long term failure

ping

French news agency reporting... via bbc

Sounds like they’re going for it...

justin124

Big_G_NorthWales said:

ping said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.

The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.

Indeed, Labour have now been drawn into it

Indeed - but as we saw with the Expenses Scandal in 2009 . the party in Government at the time is most vulnerable electorally.

dixiedean

FrancisUrquhart said:

dixiedean said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

dixiedean said:

Boris is indeed lucky. Corbyn understands football.
Starmer?

Does Corbyn understand football? His policy of psuedo nationalisation idea, I don't think went down very well.

It was a policy a bit like the Commie Cable Company, free internet everybody, everybody loves the internet, so they are going dig this. But, yeah but it will be slower and I can't choose to package it with my Sky etc, no you can't...hmmmm I don't think I like this idea....

Fan owned clubs, ok, lets think, that means no billionaire football owners, means fewer mega stars, which means far less likely to compete in the Champions league.

Yes I know Germany fan owned, but they are basically a one club league, plus others that have to flog their good players after they had a season or two to balance the books.

I reckon he'd not be embarrassed speaking on Sky Sports for 10 minutes. Either on this topic or football in general.
Unlike Boris or SKS...
As for the German system. Well it does that.
It also has frighteningly affordable season tickets and generally produces a decent national side. So it is a question of what you want.

The German model has its positives, but there is a reason the EPL is THE league everybody around the world watches. It is a commercial success like no other league. It isn't the best technical football, but most seasons every team is competitive and there is real unpredictability. The product is fantastic and is built on all these clubs being able to go out and buy the extremely good talent and hold on to it.

Yes. And revenue sharing is a fundamental component of that. The EPL is the most popular at the moment. That isn't set in stone.

MaxPB

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MrEd said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Cookie said:

moonshine said:

TOPPING said:

MaxPB said:

I haven't seen something as unpopular as this, ever. This must have been what the poll tax was like, universally unpopular.

Perhaps the clubs, having spent the past year without them, have realised that fans are or need not be the biggest revenue contributors.

Stick the it on ppv or team up with a steaming service, fund it via an oil- rich searcher of good PR and Bob's your uncle.

You don't need a superleague to ditch Sky and the multitude of network middlemen around the world. You have an EPL app (or Champions League app) that carries every game wherever you are in the world. Just the same as for the American sports. It would be trivial to earn more money than they do now and it would send Sky bust as well which would be amusing.

Would that send sky bust? Are they basically dead without football? Is this the whole of Sky, or just Sky sports?

Sky already in trouble.....Their retail offer was the footy plus tv shows / movies first in the UK. Problem is now the second part increasingly not true, which just leaves the footy. Other sports they are being squeezed by BT Sports, Amazon and the elephant is what Disney / ESPN decide to do.

Sky's strategy is actually quite smart. They are trying to push everyone to the Sky Q product where they end up aggregating everyone else's proposition in a user friendly format. Their bet is that people will get sick of having to switch between services and will just want one play where they can watch content. The other advantage is that it makes their programming cost base (which is their main cost) a lot less fixed and more variable (they replace fixed price contracts with revenue share)

Yes, the problem is it relies on Disney, Netflix, etc continuing to play nice and Sky Q is a very expensive product. Increasingly everybody has all the apps for Netflix built into their telly, you don't need a big dustbin on the side of your house nor even a specialist box.

Don't forget that TV is quite a "passive" activity i.e. most people want to come home and relax, and not want to think too much about things, which plays into Sky's hands. They want one place where they can find content easily.

Re the likes of Netflix, Disney+ etc deserting Sky, absolutely not at least short term. The thing that is driving their share prices at the moment are their subscriber numbers. A deal with Sky is great for them because they can immediately tell the stock markets they have added c. 10m subscribers (for the UK and Ireland) straight off the bat. Lose that deal, their sub numbers go down 10m and they have to spend a lot of marketing to rebuild. Plus, hearing some quite bad things about Disney+ in the US

Erhhh, when all the apps are built into your tv, that's as passive as it comes. I don't even need to worry about which HDMI output the Sky box is on.

As for Disney, they have 100m subs in just over a year of being about, that is f##king infinity and beyond stuff.

Disney has 100m+ subs, mainly from signing deals with the likes of Sky and other big platforms (such as Verizon) when they add on 10m or more to their total off the back of one deal. Look at how many they are signing up off the back of their "own" efforts.

There is a reason why these companies are signing deals with the likes of Sky, they realise in most cases (Netflix excepted) that their brands and offerings are not strong enough to gain mass traction

Laughably poor understanding of how media licencing works.

FrancisUrquhart

dixiedean said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

dixiedean said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

dixiedean said:

Boris is indeed lucky. Corbyn understands football.
Starmer?

Does Corbyn understand football? His policy of psuedo nationalisation idea, I don't think went down very well.

It was a policy a bit like the Commie Cable Company, free internet everybody, everybody loves the internet, so they are going dig this. But, yeah but it will be slower and I can't choose to package it with my Sky etc, no you can't...hmmmm I don't think I like this idea....

Fan owned clubs, ok, lets think, that means no billionaire football owners, means fewer mega stars, which means far less likely to compete in the Champions league.

Yes I know Germany fan owned, but they are basically a one club league, plus others that have to flog their good players after they had a season or two to balance the books.

I reckon he'd not be embarrassed speaking on Sky Sports for 10 minutes. Either on this topic or football in general.
Unlike Boris or SKS...
As for the German system. Well it does that.
It also has frighteningly affordable season tickets and generally produces a decent national side. So it is a question of what you want.

The German model has its positives, but there is a reason the EPL is THE league everybody around the world watches. It is a commercial success like no other league. It isn't the best technical football, but most seasons every team is competitive and there is real unpredictability. The product is fantastic and is built on all these clubs being able to go out and buy the extremely good talent and hold on to it.

Yes. And revenue sharing is a fundamental component of that. The EPL is the most popular at the moment. That isn't set in stone.

EPL is at the moment and has been basically since it was created. It isn't going anywhere. Is THE football league of the world. Its the history, the play style, the fans, and its the money that is pumped into it that allows them to sign basically all the best players outside a very select handful that have the choice to go to a Barcelona or Real Madrid.

When I used to travel a lot more, any country I went to, you wouldn't have to look hard to see people glued to watch the weekend games, which you don't see for the other leagues outside the big games.

I have never seen people in other countries glued to their screen watching Mainz 05 vs FC Augsburg, but they are to watch something like a Newcastle vs West Ham.

A VfB Stuttgart are never signing a James Rodriguez, but Everton can.

Floater

Anabobazina said:

I completely missed the Lord Falconer story.

Dare I ask whether he remains in post?

Hasn't he already resigned? (Again)

Leon

Fuck them. Just fuck them all



Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano


12 football clubs today jointly announced an agreement competition, the Super League.

AC Milan, Arsenal , Atlético, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham have all joined.

Gallowgate

The madmen are going for it.

Time_to_Leave

I am yet to find a single person who supports this mad idea. Though, as I said on the other thread, FIFA and UEFA need a kicking: just not in this way that damages football.

Time_to_Leave

Leon said:

Fuck them. Just fuck them all



Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano


12 football clubs today jointly announced an agreement competition, the Super League.

AC Milan, Arsenal , Atlético, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham have all joined.

Thought I’d never use this phrase but I agree with Gary Neville. Relegate them all. Tomorrow.

FrancisUrquhart

Time_to_Leave said:

Leon said:

Fuck them. Just fuck them all



Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano


12 football clubs today jointly announced an agreement competition, the Super League.

AC Milan, Arsenal , Atlético, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham have all joined.

Thought I’d never use this phrase but I agree with Gary Neville. Relegate them all. Tomorrow.

We have Gary Lineker and Nige Farage agreeing....and we thought COVID had created some strange bedfellows.

Leon

This is going to be a monumental war, if they persist

Could ruin football for a decade. Could be a split like rugby: league v union

dixiedean

So. We expunge the "shameless Six" from this season. I suppose Leicester win it again?
Everton will fall. First bloody season in 20+ years we've held our own with the big boys.
Sighs.
New stadium probably not viable and on hold.
Joy.

Anabobazina

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

rcs1000

Andy_JS said:

"Michigan expands mask requirement to children ages 2 to 4, extends gathering limits

As the surge of coronavirus cases continues in Michigan, a younger demographic has been part of the increase. The expansion to children age 2 and up will take effect April 26."

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/04/michigan-expands-mask-requirement-to-children-ages-2-to-4-extends-gathering-limits.html

Vaccinations are a whole lot more effective when case levels are low.

Nigelb

Saw the thread headline and though it was about the Line of Duty cliffhanger.

Anabobazina

Floater said:

Anabobazina said:

I completely missed the Lord Falconer story.

Dare I ask whether he remains in post?

Hasn't he already resigned? (Again)

Lord Falconer to depart on a point of principle over the Super 12?

LostPassword

So... will they be banning players from these teams from playing in this summer's Euro 2020[1] tournament?

Or are we in a phoney war period for a bit first?

dixiedean

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Response is to shelve the ludicrous new Champions League proposals forthwith.

rcs1000

Leon said:

Fuck them. Just fuck them all



Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano


12 football clubs today jointly announced an agreement competition, the Super League.

AC Milan, Arsenal , Atlético, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham have all joined.

Why no Rangers and Celtic?

Andy_JS

rcs1000 said:

Andy_JS said:

"Michigan expands mask requirement to children ages 2 to 4, extends gathering limits

As the surge of coronavirus cases continues in Michigan, a younger demographic has been part of the increase. The expansion to children age 2 and up will take effect April 26."

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/04/michigan-expands-mask-requirement-to-children-ages-2-to-4-extends-gathering-limits.html

Vaccinations are a whole lot more effective when case levels are low.

True. Trying to work out why they've made this announcement.

Leon

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

No, they mean it

Doesn't mean they will be able to do it, however

rcs1000

LostPassword said:

So... will they be banning players from these teams from playing in this summer's Euro 2020[1] tournament?

Or are we in a phoney war period for a bit first?

It's a bit harsh to ban a player who didn't choose to play for a Super League team, but is contractually obliged to do so.

rcs1000

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

LostPassword

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

Fuck them. Just fuck them all



Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano


12 football clubs today jointly announced an agreement competition, the Super League.

AC Milan, Arsenal , Atlético, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham have all joined.

Why no Rangers and Celtic?

There's room for them in the Premier League now.

FrancisUrquhart

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

They just said on Sky, there except 3 more teams to be founding members and 5 qualifying places every year i.e 20 teams.

Anabobazina

Leon said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

No, they mean it

Doesn't mean they will be able to do it, however

Nope. They know it’s a fantasy. You’ll see.

solarflare

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

On Sky Sports News they are talking about more clubs - 3 more clubs to come, 15 "founding" clubs and then a qualifying process thing to get another 5 clubs. Somehow.

Foxy

dixiedean said:

So. We expunge the "shameless Six" from this season. I suppose Leicester win it again?
Everton will fall. First bloody season in 20+ years we've held our own with the big boys.
Sighs.
New stadium probably not viable and on hold.
Joy.

Booting out the sleazy six will be good for Leicester who will fight it out with Everton each year. It also allows promotion of more Championship sides or even bringing in a few Scottish sides.

Crowds will be good for the domestic game.

Gallowgate

Anabobazina said:

Leon said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

No, they mean it

Doesn't mean they will be able to do it, however

Nope. They know it’s a fantasy. You’ll see.

There's a massive amount of bad faith being generated though.

TheScreamingEagles

Can relate to Andy.

Andrew_Heaton: The Super League thing is insane, but given that Everton didn’t get asked, on balance, i’m probably all for it for this reason alone

FrancisUrquhart

Founding clubs to get 3.5bn euro each.

dixiedean

Kick them out. Suspend all their fixtures. Expunge their records. Announce no one relegated and six promoted.
IF they back down allow them into the Championship for next year to compete for 3 promotion places.
That should concentrate minds.

Anabobazina

dixiedean said:

So. We expunge the "shameless Six" from this season. I suppose Leicester win it again?
Everton will fall. First bloody season in 20+ years we've held our own with the big boys.
Sighs.
New stadium probably not viable and on hold.
Joy.

It’s not going to happen.

Leon

A taste of the battle to come

Liverpool's official tweet

Liverpool FC
@LFC
Leading European football clubs announce new Super League competition.


Gets mightily ratio'd. One of their biggest supporters' accounts (500,000 followers) responds:


Anfield Watch
@AnfieldWatch

4m
Replying to
@LFC
Football is finished.



https://twitter.com/AnfieldWatch/status/1383909016418492424?s=20

dixiedean

rcs1000 said:

Leon said:

Fuck them. Just fuck them all



Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano


12 football clubs today jointly announced an agreement competition, the Super League.

AC Milan, Arsenal , Atlético, Chelsea, Barcelona, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham have all joined.

Why no Rangers and Celtic?

Err.
It's a Super League.

Leon

FrancisUrquhart said:

Founding clubs to get 3.5bn euro each.

No, 350m

Brom

I don’t really have too much of an issue with the super league. UEFA and Sky long since took the good parts of football and made it worse. The brass neck of Martin Tyler and Gary Neville to complain after working alongside the EPL to charge folk £15 in a pandemic to watch a match.

It’s broadly a closed shop for plastic fans with ridiculous kick off times, over promotion of the moneyed clubs and a huge gap between the haves and have nots. Much the same as the Champions League. Take the ‘big 6’ out of the Premier League and it would be a classic title race this year compared to the procession it has actually been.

A lot of the outrage comes from the more armchair end of the football spectrum but I suspect a lot of lower league fans like myself feel completely detached from the fans of the big clubs anyway. I’m just happy having a few beers, watching players give it their all with no VAR or histrionics and a decent atmosphere. So long as England exists I’ll have a team at the highest level of the game I can care about too.

I’ve never really trusted the ‘fans’ who obsess over their billionaire plaything teams but are dismissive of international tournaments anyway. Give me a World Cup over a champions league or super league any day of the week! For me that’s the purest form of the elite game.

Foxy

LostPassword said:

So... will they be banning players from these teams from playing in this summer's Euro 2020[1] tournament?

Or are we in a phoney war period for a bit first?

I wouldn't set up a bigger Club vs country row that way. A lot of the players fancy a summer off.

Anabobazina

This Super 12 story reminds me of the much vaunted European vaccine export ban.

It’s an obvious bargaining chip. A kite in flight.

Repeat again:

It. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.

justin124

As someone who cannot abide football, I welcome any development which undermines it - and which is likely to repel the wider public and its obsession with it.

MaxPB

rcs1000 said:

LostPassword said:

So... will they be banning players from these teams from playing in this summer's Euro 2020[1] tournament?

Or are we in a phoney war period for a bit first?

It's a bit harsh to ban a player who didn't choose to play for a Super League team, but is contractually obliged to do so.

Surely the contract is void though? That player becomes a free agent as the club is preventing the player from engaging in international football.

Leon

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

5 more teams?


Bayern, PSG, Dortmund, Everton, Napoli.....

Just cut and paste the top 20 richest clubs, as this is what is happening



https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/which-are-the-worlds-richest-football-clubs-in-2021/psbb7gblbm6j1m5mc753tv1us

Time_to_Leave

Foxy said:

LostPassword said:

So... will they be banning players from these teams from playing in this summer's Euro 2020[1] tournament?

Or are we in a phoney war period for a bit first?

I wouldn't set up a bigger Club vs country row that way. A lot of the players fancy a summer off.

Those clubs could also easily create a breakaway competitor “nations championship” in Europe from amongst their own squads....

rcs1000

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

They just said on Sky, there except 3 more teams to be founding members and 5 qualifying places every year i.e 20 teams.

There can't be five qualifying places EVERY year.

12 teams - even 12 + 3 teams for the inaugural season - is not enough. That's 28 games per side, against the 45+ that Chelsea or Man City would expect to play in a typical season. The only way it would work would be if you played everyone four times in the season, and that's also a really stupid idea.

Gallowgate

Jason Burt
@JBurtTelegraph
Told that Juventus have just quit the European Club Association and Andrea Agnelli has resigned as its chairman and also from Uefa Executive committee..

https://twitter.com/JBurtTelegraph/status/1383910034057297936

LostPassword

Here's the link to the full statement, including the proposed format. 15 founding clubs and 5 qualifying clubs each year.

https://twitter.com/danroan/status/1383909710869368832

Foxy

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

5 more teams?


Bayern, PSG, Dortmund, Everton, Napoli.....

Just cut and paste the top 20 richest clubs, as this is what is happening



https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/which-are-the-worlds-richest-football-clubs-in-2021/psbb7gblbm6j1m5mc753tv1us

Bayern, Dortmund, PSG have all said no.

FrancisUrquhart

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

They just said on Sky, there except 3 more teams to be founding members and 5 qualifying places every year i.e 20 teams.

There can't be five qualifying places EVERY year.

12 teams - even 12 + 3 teams for the inaugural season - is not enough. That's 28 games per side, against the 45+ that Chelsea or Man City would expect to play in a typical season. The only way it would work would be if you played everyone four times in the season, and that's also a really stupid idea.

This is only supposed to be a midweek league, in addition to the national leagues.

ExiledInScotland

I don't understand how the clubs will be allowed to receive advances based on future ticket sales. Is that actually legal?

dixiedean

Anabobazina said:

This Super 12 story reminds me of the much vaunted European vaccine export ban.

It’s an obvious bargaining chip. A kite in flight.

Repeat again:

It. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.

On balance, no.
However, it's been talked about for ages. And that is some serious moolah.
The pandemic means we don't know how much these clubs are leaking. Match day Corporate is far more of an income stream for them than Burnley or Sheffield United.
It has to happen at some point.

Leon

Whoah. Shit gets real, real quick


The Spectator Index
@spectatorindex
·
45s
BREAKING: UEFA says every player and club who participate in new Super League will be banned from UEFA and FIFA football tournaments



That's pretty brutal. And entertaining

Gallowgate

LostPassword said:

Here's the link to the full statement, including the proposed format. 15 founding clubs and 5 qualifying clubs each year.

https://twitter.com/danroan/status/1383909710869368832

They can f*ck right off.

Brom

Leon said:

A taste of the battle to come

Liverpool's official tweet

Liverpool FC
@LFC
Leading European football clubs announce new Super League competition.


Gets mightily ratio'd. One of their biggest supporters' accounts (500,000 followers) responds:


Anfield Watch
@AnfieldWatch

4m
Replying to
@LFC
Football is finished.



https://twitter.com/AnfieldWatch/status/1383909016418492424?s=20

Liverpool have already u-turned on furlough recently, wouldn’t be surprised if they did it again with the super league. They’ve got more in common with the Tories than their fans would like to admit!

CatMan

Well BBC News are repoting it as fact (and their leading story): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56795811

rcs1000

Let's say this happens. (And for the record, it won't.)

Does this mean that Sheffield United don't get relegated? And six teams from the CL get promoted? And the onwards downwards through the divisions?

If so, this is potentially massive news for Wrexham and Stockport...

dixiedean

Gallowgate said:

Jason Burt
@JBurtTelegraph
Told that Juventus have just quit the European Club Association and Andrea Agnelli has resigned as its chairman and also from Uefa Executive committee..

https://twitter.com/JBurtTelegraph/status/1383910034057297936

Blimey. That is big.

Leon

They REALLY mean it


Gabriele Marcotti
@Marcotti
·
4m
Andrea Agnelli is no longer ECA President. Juventus have left ECA. (And Agnelli has resigned from the UEFA ExCo).
(Safe to say it's Super League related)

MaxPB

Leon said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Founding clubs to get 3.5bn euro each.

No, 350m

That number keeps coming back over and over. Next there will be a 52/48 split on something.

dixiedean

Leon said:

Whoah. Shit gets real, real quick


The Spectator Index
@spectatorindex
·
45s
BREAKING: UEFA says every player and club who participate in new Super League will be banned from UEFA and FIFA football tournaments



That's pretty brutal. And entertaining

League and Union. Rugby could have been the world's sport.

rcs1000

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

They just said on Sky, there except 3 more teams to be founding members and 5 qualifying places every year i.e 20 teams.

There can't be five qualifying places EVERY year.

12 teams - even 12 + 3 teams for the inaugural season - is not enough. That's 28 games per side, against the 45+ that Chelsea or Man City would expect to play in a typical season. The only way it would work would be if you played everyone four times in the season, and that's also a really stupid idea.

This is only supposed to be a midweek league, in addition to the national leagues.

Yes, but (if this happens), then Arsenal and Chelsea and Liverpool won't be in the Premier League any more...

rcs1000

Foxy said:

Leon said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

5 more teams?


Bayern, PSG, Dortmund, Everton, Napoli.....

Just cut and paste the top 20 richest clubs, as this is what is happening



https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/which-are-the-worlds-richest-football-clubs-in-2021/psbb7gblbm6j1m5mc753tv1us

Bayern, Dortmund, PSG have all said no.

Benfica?

rcs1000

MaxPB said:

rcs1000 said:

LostPassword said:

So... will they be banning players from these teams from playing in this summer's Euro 2020[1] tournament?

Or are we in a phoney war period for a bit first?

It's a bit harsh to ban a player who didn't choose to play for a Super League team, but is contractually obliged to do so.

Surely the contract is void though? That player becomes a free agent as the club is preventing the player from engaging in international football.

Phew. Going to be some interesting contract law issues...

Charles

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

They just said on Sky, there except 3 more teams to be founding members and 5 qualifying places every year i.e 20 teams.

There can't be five qualifying places EVERY year.

12 teams - even 12 + 3 teams for the inaugural season - is not enough. That's 28 games per side, against the 45+ that Chelsea or Man City would expect to play in a typical season. The only way it would work would be if you played everyone four times in the season, and that's also a really stupid idea.

It’s 20 clubs every year, 5 of which rotate

Brom

Leon said:

Whoah. Shit gets real, real quick


The Spectator Index
@spectatorindex
·
45s
BREAKING: UEFA says every player and club who participate in new Super League will be banned from UEFA and FIFA football tournaments



That's pretty brutal. And entertaining

Pope, Bertrand, Coady, Keane, Cash, Rice, Bellingham, Ward Prowse, Grealish, Sancho, Calvert Lewin

Reckon we’d still do OK. Obviously in these circumstances the Germans would win everything given half their team plays for Bayern!

rcs1000

ExiledInScotland said:

I don't understand how the clubs will be allowed to receive advances based on future ticket sales. Is that actually legal?

It's the kind of thing that Greensill specialises in. Someone should connect Lex with the clubs pronto.

Foxy

Charles said:

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

They just said on Sky, there except 3 more teams to be founding members and 5 qualifying places every year i.e 20 teams.

There can't be five qualifying places EVERY year.

12 teams - even 12 + 3 teams for the inaugural season - is not enough. That's 28 games per side, against the 45+ that Chelsea or Man City would expect to play in a typical season. The only way it would work would be if you played everyone four times in the season, and that's also a really stupid idea.

It’s 20 clubs every year, 5 of which rotate

No relegation for the original 15 though.

I won't be watching it.

Leon

dixiedean said:

Leon said:

Whoah. Shit gets real, real quick


The Spectator Index
@spectatorindex
·
45s
BREAKING: UEFA says every player and club who participate in new Super League will be banned from UEFA and FIFA football tournaments



That's pretty brutal. And entertaining

League and Union. Rugby could have been the world's sport.

And this. It is like the rugby code split



Madrid Zone
@theMadridZone

PSG will refuse to sell their players to any Super League team. Mbappe AND Neymar will renew with immediate effect. @MailSport #rmalive

MaxPB

Is this supposed to be 19 or 38 matches per season? If it's the latter how does that even fit into the schedule.

rcs1000

Charles said:

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

They just said on Sky, there except 3 more teams to be founding members and 5 qualifying places every year i.e 20 teams.

There can't be five qualifying places EVERY year.

12 teams - even 12 + 3 teams for the inaugural season - is not enough. That's 28 games per side, against the 45+ that Chelsea or Man City would expect to play in a typical season. The only way it would work would be if you played everyone four times in the season, and that's also a really stupid idea.

It’s 20 clubs every year, 5 of which rotate

They might say that, but that requires UEFA/FIFA to fold, and they have absolutely no incentive to do so.

If the devious dozen push ahead with this, then these teams will all be leaving their domestic leagues imminently.

The question is, really: how gutsy do the American owners of Arsenal and the like feel? They have to have known that FIFA/UEFA would say "no".

My gut - FWIW - is that if they can persuade five or six more top rated European soccer teams to join, then this goes ahead as a breakaway league.

dixiedean

Foxy said:

Charles said:

rcs1000 said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

rcs1000 said:

Anabobazina said:

It is clearly a gambit to get better terms in the Champions League. A 12 team closed shop ain’t going to happen.

Agreed: you need 20 - maybe even 22 or 24 - teams to make it work, especially as the teams involved aren't going to be playing traditional European football or the equivalent of the FA Cup.

They just said on Sky, there except 3 more teams to be founding members and 5 qualifying places every year i.e 20 teams.

There can't be five qualifying places EVERY year.

12 teams - even 12 + 3 teams for the inaugural season - is not enough. That's 28 games per side, against the 45+ that Chelsea or Man City would expect to play in a typical season. The only way it would work would be if you played everyone four times in the season, and that's also a really stupid idea.

It’s 20 clubs every year, 5 of which rotate

No relegation for the original 15 though.

I won't be watching it.

I'm pretty sure the ancestors at Accrington, PNE and Notts County, among others, wish they'd thought of that.

Cookie

rcs1000 said:

Let's say this happens. (And for the record, it won't.)

Does this mean that Sheffield United don't get relegated? And six teams from the CL get promoted? And the onwards downwards through the divisions?

If so, this is potentially massive news for Wrexham and Stockport...

As the site's (only?) resident Stockport County fan*, this makes me even keener for the big six to make the jump. Go on you greedy soulless bastards - do it! No one will miss you.

*Not the sort of fan that does them any good, mind. I think the last time I went was 1998. Really, this isn't a game I have skin in.

Brom

Will people (including the fans) forgive the big clubs when the inevitable u-turn occurs and continue to pump money into their coffers via Sky, merchandise, ticket and corporate sales? I bet most of them will. The owners probably see this as a relatively low risk gamble, given how wedded a lot of the supporters are, and few wish to turn their backs on something they’ve invested their childhood and adult lives in.